Luna

I am down to four chickens. Luna, who loved to fly over the back fence and scratch in the delicious compost pile, was killed by a dog.

I don't have any more black sexlinks. They seem to have the most personality and are very friendly. When I have a farm and can finally get more chickens I will definitely choose some more black sexlink chicks.

Weekend Adventures

On Saturday morning I woke up early and went outside to check on the chickens.

Warning: 'this account is graphic in nature and may not be suitable for all readers. reader discretion is advised.' (*snicker*, i watch too much t.v.)

The chickens were thrilled to have some corn sprinkled on the sidewalk for them and they went to town. Then I noticed Luna and her fluffly chicken rear end. She was squatting slightly and her tail feathers were puffed out as wide as they could be. Interestingly her vent seemed to be inside out. YIKES! I proceeded to freak out and race upstairs certain she was probably going to die. My mom, utterly concerned, said, "There's nothing I can do about it right now.Did you look it up on the computer?" Very anti-climatic.

I went back downstairs and researched the computer busily, not sure what I was even looking for. I did have a feeling it was fairly common.

Now I know that Luna, who lays very large eggs had what is a called a prolapsed vent/oviduct, meaning that in the process of laying an egg her duct was very nearly laid with it. Not good.

Causes (as found on the world wide web): Calcium deficiency, an egg that is on the large side for that specific chicken and also possibly that chicken started laying very young.

In Luna's case most likely she laid a very large egg, because she does that everyday. She may also be slightly calcium deficient. I raced outside and emptied half the bag of oyster shells onto the dirt in their coop. Oyster shells are rich in calcium and chickens are big fans.

Treatments for prolapsed ducts vary. Some make more sense to me than others.

A chicken can die from this problem if it happens very frequently and treatment does not fix the problem, or if there is a tear and bleeding. Other chickens may even peck at the protruding duct which is BAD. Stop them. Seperate them. I did not have to separate Luna from my other hens because 1, my hens are nice and 2, on day one of the problem the prolapse resolved itself. I also figured that separating her from fun, freedom and friends would really piss her off and make everything worse. So I did not.

On Sunday, the second prolapse occured and I wasn't waiting to see if it would self-resolve again. Sooo...

1. Push the prolapse back where it came from. Do so with latex gloves and a warm, wet paper towel. The chicken may seem uncomfortable but just get it over with because you're a farmer and you have to.

2. Apply ointment. I recommend A&D (baby butt) ointment! It worked for me :) The skin needs to stay moist and germs must be kept away. Other suggestions I came across were vaseline and prep H (a prolapse is somewhat like a hemerroid).

I did everything I could and had to wait til Monday...

Monday morning I geared up before going outside. Warm wet paper towel, check. Ointment, check. Towel, check (for setting Luna on my lap. Chickens have filthy feet and I didn't want to feel farm girl all day with muddy jeans).

I didn't need the gear afterall. I checked for a prolapse and there was none! I applied more ointment just to be safe. I also checked for her egg and found it so it seems like she laid with a problemt. Eggcellent news if I do say so myself and I feel pretty proud for doing the dirty work without squeemishness.

Got'r Done.


HAHAHAHA, I crack myself up.

The part of my weekend that was not spent engaged with chichen emergency was spend gardening. The yard looks mighty tidy and smells like dirt. This morning I woke up and heard birds outside! The chickens had an adventure while we were all outside working. They were allowed to free range in the front yard! They're such good, obedient little chickens and stayed in the yard the whole time. To anyone who thinks chickens aren't smart, mine will prove you wrong. And not only are they smart, they're friendly and very good company.

you know you belong on a farm when...

You are proud of the mud on your rain boots!

Haha :) I cleaned the chicken coop today. Now everything is tidy and in order.

I am being so productive today! So far I've written one and a half scholarship application essays and made a list of honors, extracurricular activities and work experience which is one of the requirements for this particular scholarship. By tomorrow my first scholarship application will be in the mail! Congratulations to me! I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere and reality is setting in that I really am graduating. It isn't going to be high school anymore. I'm good with that. High school is dumb :)

I have started saying its hard work graduating myself. Because that's exactly what it is. I have to graduate myself. Good grades, a complete portfolio, college and scholarship applications, plus a job and a life. Maybe no life, nevermind ;)

Btw, I was highly amused by how amusing everyone found my last post.

HA! I almost forgot. I am officially a UW Husky which is quite a relief!

Socks

washing machine guts



some of our laundry

Hi mom! Hi dad! hehehehahaha:)

Socks are nice to have. You never realize how much you appreciate socks until the washing machine breaks and all of your precious socks are dirty.

The breaking and quitting and falling apart began a few years ago with the oven I think. It failed on Thanksgiving if I remember correctly (always perfect timing I might add). Broken appliances are always an exciting adventure for kids, not parents who pay for repairs or replacements. For kids, getting new things is fun. Now, I don't get such a thrill when things break. I'd rather have clean socks. Oh well, its still very interesting to write about. At the rate we're going I'll have to enjoy that luxury while it lasts because soon our entire house will be brand new.

After the oven things settled down for a while. Then the dishwasher broke. We have a new dishwasher. Again things calmed down and there was a break from breaking (hahaha).

In July, in the middle of blazing hot weather, our fridge died. Slowly but surely it died. We bought a shiny new fridge and figured things would die down again. Then...the computer bogged down. Some extra ram and it was a million times louder and much faster. With the arrival of fall the fan in our gas fireplace went crazy and makes awful noises. Dad turned the fan off. The fireplace still works. That's where that issue stands. How bout the insta hot (brilliant invention)? Somehow air got into the pipes. When it is turned on it dispenses water smoothly for all of five seconds. After that back the heck up or you will be burned to a crisp by the sputtering spitting boiling hot water. Those are the minor problems. Now, on to bigger and better things.

The furnace. The maintenance guy said that if he tried to clean up the pipe it would fall apart. It was that corroded. We have a new furnace. Mom's van now has brand spanking new brakes. Ha, I almost forgot to mention the garage door and the mechanism that lifts it up and down both quit. Both are new. That just wasn't good enough. As of right now, the washing machine is taking up part of the hallway, the kitchen and the laundry room. Its guts are in the laundry sink. How did you guess? Its broken. The repair man is coming tomorrow. The catch? It might not be fixable. You just never know :) How fun!

This morning I called Dad at work. I don't think he likes hearing from me when he's at work :) I had to let him know that the dishwasher was spewing yellow water all over the kitchen floor. Thrilled is the only way to describe him. HEHEHE! not. After that I called Mom. She had no words.

Reading this is actually comical :) The best part is that I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I'd say I have no idea what else could possibly go wrong. But then something else would go wrong immediately.

Hopefully soon I have clean socks!

monday: day 1 Christmas break

Its been a productive day so far! I finished editing my personal essay that is a requirement for my senior portfolio (It was too long). Then I tried the recipe for Donkey Cookies (recipe from Farmgirl_dk of On the way to Critter Farm). My chickens loved them. Thanks for the recipe! I also made some oatmeal because I've heard that chickens like that too. They do.

It seems like there's less outside for them to munch on now that its winter and they get tired of their plain chicken feed. Now I have some supplements to their diet of chicken feed: oatmeal, Donkey Cookies, diced apples, grated carrots, cracked corn (their favorite), and boiled eggs (apparently chickens love them, but its important to make sure they are fully cooked so the girls don't develop a taste for their own raw eggs).

After my chicken treat experiments I tidied up the backyard. That includes scooping dog poop (Ew. I am the only person who ever does that and I'm not such a huge fan of the dog. I just like to not step in it.), and raking over half of the yard. Fir trees are messy. I would've rinsed the "poop deck", as my mom likes to call it (our back deck is covered in chicken poop.) but the water is off to the outside faucets for the winter. Its been freezing cold around here lately.

Last night it finally snowed a little after weeks of ice cold and not a cloud in the sky. Its much warmer today and the snow is gone. I'm ready for a blizzard! Not literally, but I'd love a lot more snow.

Now its time to get cleaned up and work on my scholarship calendar. Yuck.

first egg, rebekah & cold

I'm really behind on my updates, but I'll try to catch up since I am officially on Christmas break now.

Here is my very first egg! Laid by my favorite chicken, Rebekah on August 3rd.

Rebekah has since disappeared. She was so friendly and loved to sit on my lap and "talk" to me. She followed me all over the yard and guided and guarded the other five girls. I was so sad. I wonder if I'll ever have another chicken like her. For about a week after Rebekah disappeared, the other girls wandered around the yard like they didn't know what to do with themselves. Rebekah was definitely the boss. Now there is no boss, just a little group. I still expect to see her sometimes.

Lately it has been freezing cold and I have to work really hard to make sure their water doesn't freeze over. Chickens get really thirsty! I also learned that its better to let them run around outside rather than keeping them cooped up because they can stay warmer that way. It is so funny to see them all puffed up. They puff their feathers to hold in more heat. They seem to be handling the cold well so far.

on mondays and how they are all the same...

The definition of Monday should be no fun. Cause that's what Mondays are more often than not.

I woke up dark and early (6:50am) and my room was an icebox as usual. My bed was warm and I did NOT want to crawl out of it and into the frigid atmosphere that is my room even more than usual. I got up anyway.

I was ready by eight. I ate some breakfast. My plan: deposit my paycheck, study at Starbucks and be at school by eleven. No such luck.

I got out of the neighborhood and onto real roads were you have to drive over 25mph and my truck started making really scary noises. I thought perhaps it needed to warm up a bit more. Not the case. I went home a creepy crawly speed. After I called my dad I got out of my truck and popped the hood to see what I could see. I could see nothing. I closed the hood, and tried to get back in my truck. Foiled again. There were my keys residing upon my seat. My truck is holding all keys hostage along with my purse (the spare key was in my purse), my backpack with all study materials and homework, and my cell phone.

(Note that it is especially important that I get to school today because I have a math test and it is finals week, and that I do not like to be without my phone.)

The first time I called my dad it was to notify him about the strange noises which can mean nothing other than expensive. The second time was to tell him that locksmiths charge 50 dollars. All he said was, "I'm having one of those days myself. There's some money upstairs so you can pay the locksmith".

I love my dad. He is never mad at me even when I do the dumbest things. I am very grateful for my mom and dad and I wouldn't trade them for anything. God knew what he was doing when he created parents.

Now, I am waiting 45 minutes to pay a kind locksmith 50 dollars to unlock my truck.